The Ladies' Paradise is a captivating novel of love and ambition set in the opulence of a magnificent department store in 1860s Paris. The owner, business genius Octave Mouret, transforms a modest draper's shop into a hugely successful retail enterprise, masterfully exploiting the desires of his female customers and ruining his competition along the way. Through the eyes of the clever and beautiful salesgirl Denise, we see the store's inner workings along with the relationships and intrigues among the staff. And always in the background is the hushed secret behind her employer's relentless ambition. Now adapted as "The Paradise, " a Masterpiece Classic for BBC Television, Zola's novel is a fascinating portrayal of life in the Paris of the nineteenth-century.